<DIV>Hey Guys, this is Gary Grossmann & Larry Steller coming to you sort of live from beautiful downtown San Diego and GrooFest 2003, otherwise known as the San Diego Comic Con International 2003.</DIV>
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<DIV>Sergio says hi!</DIV>
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<DIV>First off, Gary is doing some shopping for some of you, so here are a couple of questions for individual Groopers. </DIV>
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<DIV>Sorry folks, this will seem a little cryptic:</DIV>
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<DIV>1. Charles-Got 2/3 of what you wanted. The other third just won't happen. But I think you'll be happy.</DIV>
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<DIV>2. Rick!!! I am confused. (What do you expect from me?) WHICH Alan Moore book do you want from Avatar? They have 4. Working on the other 2 things. </DIV>
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<DIV>3. Promethea. Found something. Sergio has just a couple of Malaysian Groo T-Shirts. (No longer available from Malaysia) for $40. Which I assume is within your deep pockets price range, so I'll get it for you tomorrow unless you send a e-mail to this address by 8:00am PDT telling me not to. </DIV>
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<DIV>OK That's it. Now back to Larry!!! </DIV>
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<DIV>(With Gary in the Peanut Gallery)</DIV>
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<DIV>If you're interested, the Comic Con program does NOT contain any Sergio artwork, so you're not missing anything there.</DIV>
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<DIV>Sergio as usual is as much fun as always, it's a joy watching him interact with fans and pros alike, he treats everyone like a long-lost friend.</DIV>
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<DIV>Groopees/Groopers we've run into so far: </DIV>
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<DIV>Scott Hudlow has a booth selling comics, he's got me helping as STAFF (free con pass, woo-hoo) but so far I've been precious little help. That'll change tomorrow, though!</DIV>
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<DIV>Nate & Chett Piekos have their Blambot booth up and running again, staffed by our pal Shane Clark as well. It's great hanging there and hearing people walk by and exclaim "Dude, I use your fonts on my indie comic!" </DIV>
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<DIV>Eric Chun's smiling face is as welcome as always, and he gave some of us neat little laminated "DID I ERR" badges. (BTW, after the con I am moving forward with the Groop Membership Cards, finally, after working out some problems. I intend to discuss some options with the Groop at Dick's Last Resort tomorrow night. Stay tuned!)</DIV>
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<DIV>Saw Kaytee before the con opened this morning and ran into her a couple of other times. Her beadwork this year is a USAGI that I haven't seen yet, but WILL make time for tomorrow, so again, stay tuned!</DIV>
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<DIV>Ran into Dennis and Lee White, who were the first to purchase one of the 6 Malysian Groo Shirts from Sergio. Dennis was thrilled to get something rare before Gary, I haven't yet had a chance to break it to the poor guy that Gary has had those shirts for 2-3 years already.</DIV>
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<DIV>Saw Steve Kuhn, only spoke with him very briefly, though.</DIV>
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<DIV>Ditto Gabe Owens, who like Steve is a great guy I'd like to spend more time with!</DIV>
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<DIV>Gary arrived at Sergio's booth after lunch bearing gifts for The Maestro of homemade bread and strawberry jam from the loving kitchen of The Long Suffering Mrs. G! Gary also brought along some Turkish Groos, which Sergio enjoyed showing around. Scott Shaw! especially loved seeing these poorly rendered tracings of Groo comics, which looked sort of Grooish but with NO backgrounds! Sergio says "In Turkey they must wonder what is the big deal about this artist, he is not so good!" </DIV>
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<DIV>Saw some guy named Mark Evanier too, had a nice chat. His Seduction of the Innocent panel, spotlighting the 50th Anniversary of the infamous Frederick Wertham's tome, was fascinating. Al Feldstein was among the panelists who had a LOT to say about that dark period of comic history. However, even Al would have to admit that the highlight of the panel was a 1967 episode of The Mike Douglas Show - never aired anywhere else since 1967 - featuring Wertham, Vincent Price and Adam West!!! Wertham got on Vincent Price for his films, he called Mr. Price's body of work "Harmful to Children", which as you can imagine didn't sit well with the noted actor. They went at it without yelling or ranting, very civilized, but poor Vincent Price was at a loss for why he was being attacked. Adam West didn't really say a word, but his double-takes and gestures into the camera were priceless!!!</DIV>
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<DIV>It's great to see that Stan Sakai's booth is always busy, we know and love him as the faithful Groo letterer (Scribe!!!), but his real talent shines in the brilliant writing and artwork of his masterpiece, the Reuben-award winning USAGI YOJIMBO. Are any of you out there STILL not buying it? Shame on you!</DIV>
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<DIV>Gordon Kent stopped by Sergio's, don't forget that, even though he only colored the first few Groo appearances, it was his decision to make Groo's tunic Orange! Basically, he had a very limited color palette to work with on that first Groo story, so after coloring the monster and the "alien-looking" vegetation, he says frankly orange was the only color left! </DIV>
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<DIV>Anyway, we've rambled on long enough, hopefully our next report will have much more news and meat for you guys. That is, as long as the Bristol hotel is still standing! With Gary & Larry as roomates, it won't be long before we have some sort of Grooism!!!</DIV><p><hr SIZE=1>
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